Conditions worsen as Glasgow shopping centre 'colder than outside'

Their claim comes weeks after traders staged a ‘Save Our Shoppy’ walk-out at The Lochs Shopping Centre over conditions and fears that the centre was ‘falling into disrepair’.

Multiple entry doors are broken and kept opened. While traders claim a condemned heating system have caused the centre to be ‘colder than outside’ as temperatures reached -10 degrees this week.

READ MORE: Glasgow business owners in Easterhouse stage protest over cost crisis

Sisters and co-owners of Wee Betty’s, a much-loved café within the Easterhouse shopping centre, claim that the heating has been broken since February and the sub-zero temperatures have caused them to lose a member of staff.

Shelley Quinn, one of the co-owners of Wee Betty’s, told the Glasgow Times: “You actually want to cry, and that’s the god’s honest truth. We’re actually frozen.”

Shelley says that she and her staff try to wear as many layers of clothing as possible, but they ‘can’t have too many layers on’ because they work with food.

She said: “It’s gotten to the stage now where, I love coming to my work, coming in, seeing all the customers, but it’s gotten to the point where in the morning I don’t want to come to work, I don’t even want to get out of my house to come in here.

“Then you have customers coming in, saying it’s colder in here than it is outside.

“We put heaters in our shop, but we can only keep so much heating in, because the doors need to be open, and the heat is just going out.

“It’s ridiculous. Staff are off sick. I can barely talk since last week. We had a staff member leave because they just couldn’t work in it.

“You go home, and your skin is nipping with how cold it is in this place.”

Customers and traders at The Lochs Shopping Centre describe it as a community hub as well as a shopping centre, but the bitter cold means many vulnerable and elderly people are unable to spend time there.

Anna Devlin, 70, has been coming to the shopping centre regularly for years to meet with a group of friends at Wee Betty’s but the cold has stopped many of them from coming in.

She said: “There’s usually eight of us but it’s too cold for the rest of them so they’ve not been coming here. It’s not comfortable now.”

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Nan Harrington, 82, added that their usual table in Wee Betty’s ‘would have been filled if conditions were better’.

She said: “The past few months it’s been really bad, really bad. It’s warmer outside than inside the mall. I mean it really is frozen in here, I think it’s ridiculous.

“People are not going to come as long as it’s like this because it’s far too cold, they’re not going to come in here and do their shopping.”

Pat O’Rourke, 72, added: “A lot of older people like sitting in here to talk, it’s a social thing. It’s a meeting place for us as well.

“The way things are at the moment, it should be a priority to get this sorted.”

City Property Glasgow, landlords of The Lochs Shopping Centre, advised that fixing the broken doors was the only short-term solution to the heating problem at this time, but could not confirm when the repairs would take place.

After the ‘Save our Shoppy’ protest on November 9, the landlords issued a communication to tenants on November 11 regarding plans to address the heating issues.

A spokesperson from City Property claimed that tenants were responsible for utilities in their own units and had not been charged for heating if it was not operational.

A spokesperson from City Property said: “CPGI (City Property Glasgow Investments) has been carrying out significant work to plan a solution, and this work has begun.

“A communication was issued to all tenants on November 11 detailing plans to address this issue as quickly as we can.

“We appointed a technical advisor to explore temporary heating options, however cost and disruption outweighed replacing the system.

“Due to the size and complex nature of replacing the system, a new design is required.

“The design and solutions need to be explored before the project can be tendered on the open market.

“As a shorter-term measure, the entranceway doors of the centre will be replaced.

“This work will also include heat curtains above each new doorway.

“We believe this will assist in retaining heat within the mall area and improve the overall insulation of the building.”

A meeting has been scheduled to take place between traders, City Property, Graham and Sibbald, and other stakeholders on January 27, 2023.